


Suit The Role

by Forgotten_Lighthouse_Of_Flowers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: A lot of assumptions, And New York Loves Spider-Man, Assumptions, But Spider-Man is still Spider-Man, Drabble, Female Peter Parker, Gen, No schedule for updates, Peter Parker is Petra, Peter Parker loves New York, Pre-Spider-Man: Homecoming, Theories, it'll make sense I swear, just writing whatever comes to mind, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-13
Updated: 2020-01-11
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21783421
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forgotten_Lighthouse_Of_Flowers/pseuds/Forgotten_Lighthouse_Of_Flowers
Summary: Some scenes looking into the life and the relationships of Petra Parker and Spider-Man, and answering the question of what it means to be both.
Relationships: May Parker (Spider-Man) & Peter Parker, Ned Leeds & Peter Parker, Peter Parker & Flash Thompson, Peter Parker and New York, Peter Parker and Tony Stark
Comments: 14
Kudos: 101





	1. The Matter of Things

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first MCU work, constructive criticism is very much welcome but please be kind.

When Spider-Man first appeared on the New York scene, of course people were going to make assumptions. They were used to the flashy open nature of the Avengers, wherein they could look up every name and know (almost) every fact. The information was at their fingertips and all it took was a simple google search. 

Tony Stark was the most obvious example, his Wiki page was basically overflowing with information, from his company work, personal life to Iron Man; who had earned his own page to add on to that. 

Knowledge on Captain America was also very easy to access. While the details of his life before and during WW2 were more clouded with misinformation, people now couldn’t get enough of recording everything they knew about the Man Out Of Time himself. He also happened to have the biggest record of fan-blogs, most dedicated to candid photos him doing literally anything. 

The rest of the Avengers got almost the same amount of publicity, but it was mostly notes on their actions in the here and now rather than details of their pasts. Which made sense, what with there being two top secret spies, a literal god from another realm and a scientist who would rather keep away from the Hulk’s weird fan following. 

Spider-Man was different though. Sure, his overall appearance was bold and flashy (if a little thrift store-y some would note) but he was still a huge enigma. He just appeared one day and began doing his thing, helping people with day to day issues with no demand for fame or glory. It was very much a surprise, since the heroes everyone were used would only appear for big scale missions or world threatening catastrophes. Thus there were a lot of skeptics at first, but sooner or later they too came around to feeling a sense of trust towards the red and blue clad web-slinger. 

But still nobody actually knew who he was, it was truly one of New York’s biggest mysteries, and one the people were almost desperate to solve. So they made assumptions, they made theories and even formulated their own backstories. Truly, everything they knew about Spider-Man’s identity originated from a guess that people took for gospel. 

The biggest example was actually very glaring. 

Spider-Man. 

Spider- _MAN._

When Petra Parker first saw the name come up on some gossip blog, she’ll admit she almost fell off her chair from how hard she slapped her forehead. She then spent the next minute or two laughing hysterically until Aunt May came in and asked if everything was okay, too which Petra showed the article and lied that she was laughing at the heroes costume design. 

Or rather, her costume design. 

It was a little hastily put together. She didn’t really give much thought to the shape of it and what people might assume, so really she had it coming. The clothes she’d chosen were indeed thrifted and maybe a size or two too big, hiding the shape of her petite yet obviously feminine figure and leaving a lot of room for mistake. It didn’t help that she was born with an oddly deep voice which Flash never forgot to remind her about. And finally there were probably some stereotypes as to the nature of heroes at play too. 

So despite the fact that for a good while it bothered her, maybe she couldn’t really blame the city for thinking Spider-Man was a young adult man instead of a teenage girl. 

And after some pondering she realised this was actually a good thing. 

Not even good, it was perfect! 

Petra had taken some measures to hide her own identity when she went out, with the mask an all, but really everyone else had done her job for her. Now if anyone started looking for her - which she deeply hoped they wouldn’t - they’d start looking in all the wrong places. She should have thought of that before, it was a tactic of pure genius indeed. 

To ensure that nobody starts doubting the moniker and everything it suggested, she padded herself with the new addition of sports bra and undershirt. She’d even drawn up blueprints for a possible voice changer just in case, but dumpster diving for materials would probably take more time than her webshooters. It was a challenge, but she’d have it on standby. 

Thus there was Petra and there was Spider-Man, technically the same person, technically not. Spider-Man, while a responsibility she owed after what happened to Uncle Ben, was also a way for her to get away from the ordinary life and truly be someone else through and through. Petra was nerdy and geeky and a general nobody in the grand scheme of things, but Spider-Man was someone almost everyone knew of now. He was somebody the people could put faith into, and it brought her a small sense of pride to know that. 

When Ned found out about Spider-Man he was beyond ecstatic for a good few weeks and never truly died down for his high, talking about the masked man and presenting his own crazy theories about who he was, his origins or his intentions. Petra would never admit it out loud but it did kind of warm her heart that her best friend had taken such deep and positive interest in her alter ego. So yes, she maybe somewhat endorsed his ramblings by throwing in some crazy ideas she’d come up herself simply just to continue the topic. Call her selfish if you will, but Ned’s enthusiasm was infectious. 

Aunt May was one of the skeptics. It did make Petra worry about having to divulge her secret identity to her aunt one day, knowing that she turned her nose up every time Spider-Man appeared on the news. Petra could take several guesses as to why, but she hoped that one day May would come around and she wouldn’t feel so ashamed about keeping secrets. Until then May would stay far away from Spider-Man as long as Petra had anything to say about it. 

The biggest surprise came from Flash though. If one could say that Ned was in love with Spider-Man, then in comparison Flash would get down on one knee and publicly propose to him. Flash was probably Spider-Man’s biggest public supporter in Midtown High or possibly in all the States. Sometimes it was almost endearing, but Flash was still Flash, Petra’s personal tormentor now just with a smidge of added irony between their relationship. 

Despite that, all in all, life was good. Petra had a routine, an escape and an anchor for when times were tough. She was now in control and she promised herself she’d do her best to look out for New York in the way the other heroes couldn’t or simply wouldn’t.

Trust Parker luck to throw a wrench into everything of course, in the form of Tony Stark, a surprise unmasking of two different kinds, and a proposed trip to Germany.


	2. Visitations, Revelations, Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The scene where Peter meets Tony, except this is Petra, so what would change?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally I was going to write a totally unique scenario for Tony and Petra, but rewatching the scene in Civil War made me realise a few things about Peter, mannerisms and the like during their interaction, and I really wanted to translate them into text. So yes, this is quite literally a rewrite that stays quite faithful to the original, but as the saying goes, the devil is in the details. I'd quite like to know what subtle differences you folks managed to find. Excuse the sheer amount of dialogue, but I hope you enjoy!

Petra was feeling great honestly. It just seemed like one of those times where things were looking up and touch wood Petra hoped it would continue like that. She was done with school for the day and was now excitedly half jogging through the halls of the apartment complex to get home quickly and start planning ideas how to effectively tinker with the new DvD player she’d acquired. 

Music played loudly through her ears, partially because it helped drown out the sounds of New York, which end up being difficult to bear a lot of the time, and partially because one does not simply listen to Sia or Freddie Mercury on low volume.

But oh fate was going to challenge her yet again. Because just as she enters the apartment and turns to tell May about some crazy car parked outside, who else should be taking a seat next to her aunt? 

“Ah Miss Parker!” 

_‘What is Tony Goddamn Stark doing on our sofa?!’_

Petra’s mouth hung open and she tried to force out a reply with literally any shred of dignity. 

“Hi? Hey- wha- what? Hi, I’m Petra?” 

_‘Well that was just embarrassing.’_

“Tony,” Mr Stark responded was a smile that did not calm her down. 

“What are- what are you- what are you doing here?” she said, inwardly cursing every time she stumbled.

“It’s about time we met. You’ve been getting my emails right?” 

_‘What emails?!’_

“Yeah?” Petra tried to go along with it. “Yeah regarding the…” 

“You didn’t even tell me about the grant?” Aunt May piped up, saving Petra even further embarrassment

“Yeah about grant.” 

“September Foundation,” Mr Stark added, “remember when you applied?” 

“Yeah?” 

_‘No?’_

_“_ Well I approved, so now we’re in busines.” 

He took a sip of whatever May must have prepared him- meaning he’d been here for a while oh god- meanwhile her aunt was making very confused and perplexed gestures. 

“You didn’t tell me anything sweetie, what's up with that?” she said and Petra had to bite her tongue to stop herself from exclaiming that she had no idea what was going on at all. 

“Well I just- I just know how much you love surprises so I thought I’d let you know when ...anyway what did I apply for?” 

“That’s what I’m here to hash out,” Mr Stark responded. 

“Right hash out.” 

And just when Petra thought the situation couldn’t get even more ridiculous Mr Stark turned to look at May and said, “you know it’s still hard for me to believe she’s someone’s aunt.” 

She responded with a flustered laugh. “Well we come in all shapes in sizes.” 

_‘Oh hell no.’_

“And this walnut date loaf is exceptional,” he continued and promptly taking another bite of the piece he was holding. 

_‘Oh HELL no!’_

“Let me stop you right there,” Petra said with a raised hand, “does this grant have money involved ooor whatever?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Yeah?” 

“It’s pretty well funded, I mean look who you’re talking to. Mrs Parker could I have five minutes with your niece?” 

Aunt May’s face turned skeptical and worried for a moment, and Petra hoped that she would say no and promptly shoo him out at the suggestion. But she gave a curt smile and responded, “sure.” 

Mr Stark put down his mug and stood up, watching expectantly as Petra hung her head and walked towards her bedroom, trying to look like having Iron Man of all people follow behind was the most normal thing. In reality literally every muscle in her body was tense and shaking as she opened the door and allowed the billionaire inside. 

“You look like a taunt guitar string, loosen up before you snap,” he joked while looking around.

His eyes landed on Petra’s small bin. He lifted it and spat out the bite of date loaf. 

_‘Gross.’_

“As far as walnut date loaves go, that wasn’t bad,” he said while wiping a hand across his mouth.

Petra watched him as be walked up to the desk where she’d had set up a few of her projects, at least the ones that she was okay with May knowing about. Mr Stark’s hand waved over the loose circuit boards and wires as he said, “what do we have here, retro tech huh? Thrift store? Salvation army?” 

Petra bristled at the mention of thrift stores, “the uh- uh garbage actually-”

“So you’re a dumpster diver?” he asked in a very surprised tone.

“Yeah yeah I was-,” she stopped herself and decided it was best to cut to the chase, “anyway look I definitely did not apply for your grant-” 

“Nah-ah! Me first.” 

Petra sighed with a small “okay” and let him continue. 

“Let me ask you a question of the rhetorical variety,” he said while pulling out some high tech phone looking device, a holographic projectection appeared from it and Petra’s breath caught in her throat.

It was _her_ , or rather it was Spider-Man. The footage looked to be from a security camera and showed her webbing up the leg of a carjacker, making him fly backwards and the footage paused just as she swung in front of said camera. 

“That’s _you_ , isn’t it?” 

_‘Bad chase! Don’t cut to it.’_

Petra struggled for concrete words again and managed to get out a, “um no! what do you- what do you mean-”

“ _Yeah._ Wow look at you go,” Mr Stark cut in again and proceeded to flip the device horizontally, with new footage of her stopping a runaway car from crashing into a bus. 

“Nice catch three thousand pounds, forty miles an hour!” he said as she held the vehicle up to stop it from tipping due to the sheer speed, “it’s not easy.” 

He put the device down onto the desk with the frozen image of her swinging.

“You’ve got mad skills.” 

“That’s uh- that’s all on youtube though right? I mean that’s where you found that. Because you know that’s all fake, it’s all done on a computer.” 

“Mm-hm” 

“I...it’s like that video, I, watched-”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh you mean like those UFOs over Phoenix. Huh, what have we here?” 

“Exactly uh- _NOPE!”_

Petra leaped at the bundle of red and blue that fell from the loft, which Mr Stark had opened while her back was turned, stuffing it in a basket behind her and standing in front protectively. Curse her for getting distracted and not noticing that he’d and been snooping. 

“That’s- that’s uh…” she tried but any excuse died on her tongue.

“So, you’re the _Spider-Man_ ” Mr Stark asked with a victorious smile and a raised eyebrow. 

She didn’t meet his eyes when she crossed her arms and finally caved. Leaning against the wall she gave a quiet, “....maybe.”

“Not in that onesie you’re not.” 

It took a bit of restraint for Petra not to fire back at the almost insult, instead she asked, “how’d you find me?” 

“Through sheer determination and because I’m awesome like that. Though I’ll admit kid, your little semi-crossdressing act made me jump hurdles I didn’t think I’d come across, so kudos to that.” 

She pursed her lips worriedly. “What gave it away?” 

“Nothing in particular. Look I have the highest grade technology and the exact means to exploit a few loopholes, ambiguity of any kind only does so much against that. But as for the everyman or the authorities, if that’s what you’re so worried about, I don’t think they’d go that far.” 

_‘Right_ ,’ Petra thought. Dropping the defensive stance, she walked back over to the desk and picked up a small wrench absentmindedly. 

“You know Mrs Stark, can you believe that I was actually having a really good day today? Didn’t miss my train, this perfectly good DvD player was just sitting there and algebra test, nailed it!” She annunciation the last bit by tapping the wrench.

“Who else knows?” Mr Stark said, really showing no interest in her previously perfect day.

She finally looked at him, eyes serious. He’d taken her suit from where she’d tried to stash it, sat down and was now looking over, more curious than anything it seemed. 

“Nobody,” she responded 

“Not even your unusually attractive aunt?” 

“Ew no no no, don’t say that. And even so, If she found out she’d freak out and then I’d freak out…” she trailed off, not wanting to entertain that possible scenario. 

“And now I’ve gotta ask, why this whole thing? Why not Spider-Girl or better yet Spider-Child, seems more appropriate for a twelve year old girlie no?”

“I’m _fifteen-_ but you already knew that,” she cut in, tone slightly more accusatory. 

He shrugged one shoulder, amused expression not leaving his face. 

“And I didn’t- it wasn’t my choice, not initially anyway. The internet actually mostly come up with everything.” She left out the bit where that was partially because of the male superhero driven society because that would make her sound like Michelle, and god forbid she tried to steal Michelle’s ‘thing’.

“Really? Huh...doesn’t that bother you, ‘cause I gotta say kid that’s a rough predicament.”

She shook her head, “not anymore at least, plus it wouldn’t do anyone any good to try and change things now. People already have expectations for what type of person is under the mask, telling them otherwise would ruin everything and probably end up putting us in danger.” 

“So you’re going to stick to it?”

“Yeah.” 

“Alright, fair enough, and speaking of sticking, you know what I think is really cool? This webbing.” 

Mr Stark had removed one of the web canisters and tossed it. Even with her sight set on her organised tech clutter Petra caught it cleanly in her free hand.

“The tensile strength is off the charts. Who manufactured that?” Mr Stark asked.

“I did,” she tossed it back into the basket. 

“Well then I’m going to have to re-examine my personal biases after this. So climbing walls, how are you doing that? Adhesive gloves?” 

“It’s a uh long story, I was um-”

“ _Lordy_ can you even see in these?!” Mr Stark exclaimed as he placed the goggles of her suit against his eyes and began making weird wailing sounds. 

“Yes, _yes I can._ Look I can, I can see in those!” she stumbled and snatched the suit off him before shoving it into the basket once more, “it’s just that when what whatever happened _happened_ it’s like my senses have been all dialed to eleven. There’s way too much input so, they- they just kind of help me focus.” 

“You’re in dire need of an upgrade.” Mr Stark stated.

_‘What?’_

“Systemic,” he followed up, “top to bottom. A hundred point restoration, that’s why I’m here. I can even add some less technical customisation, push a little more man into the spider, make it more believable.” 

Petra sat down her bed, not quite believing what she was hearing but intrigued nevertheless. 

“Why are you doing this?” Mr Stark asked and when she paused he added, “I gotta know what gets you out of that twin bed in the morning.” 

“Because,” Petra began, not really sure how to go about answering, “because I’ve been me my whole life, and I’ve had these powers for six months. I read books, I build computers. And yeah I would love to play basketball or volleyball, but I couldn’t then so I shouldn’t now.” 

“Sure, because you’re different.”

“Exactly, but I can’t tell anybody that, so I’m not.” 

Petra paused again. It was harder to explain than she thought, because she’s never really had to, and thinking about why she really did begin brought up bitter memories of Ben bleeding out as she held him. Guilt and responsibility were the true answers, but she couldn’t bring herself to say that. Not yet.

“Look when you can do the things that I can, but you don’t, and then the bad things happen? They happen because of you,” she managed finally. 

Mr Stark looked pensive. He didn’t respond immediately, like he was truly soaking up what she was saying for the first time. She couldn’t really tell when was going through his mind but it didn’t really look pleasant, like he too was pushing down on something. At that moment, Petra realised she felt almost sorry for him for that expression alone. 

Before she could ask if he was okay he said quietly, “so you want to look out for the little guys Do you part, make the world a better place and all that right?” 

“Yeah, yeah just looking out for the little guy. That’s what it is.” 

Petra thought Mr Stark was going to say something more but instead of pushing the subject further, he stood up, walked over, stopped and stared. 

“I’m gonna sit here so you move the leg,” he remarked

Oh.

Petra shuffled away to make space as the man set down next to her. He lifted his arm and she tensed again slightly, but he hesitated before lowering it into his lap again. 

“You got a passport girlie?” he asked.

Petra stumbled at the unusual question, “no, no I don’t even have a driver's license-” 

“Ever been to Germany?” 

“No?”

“Oh you’ll love it!”

“What, wait I can’t go to Germany!” 

“Why not?” 

“I-I’ve got...homework.” 

“Okay I fully expected you to say shark week which from secondhand experience would be a nightmare so I would have let it slide, but that excuse was lame so I’m going to pretend you didn’t say that.” 

“No! No I’m being serious! I can’t just drop out of school-”

Mr Stark stood up and began reaching towards the door before Petra could stop him. 

“It might be a little dangerous so I better tell Aunt Hottie-”

Petra shot up and sent a burst of webbing from her concealed shooter to stick his hand to the door handle before he could open it. The look of shock was a little funny, but Petra in a dead serious manner pointed a finger at him. 

“Don’t tell _Aunt May_ ,” she said.

“Alright Spider-Man.” 

Hearing him say it with equal seriousness made her feel a little bit prouder, and while her expression stayed neutral, a tiny part of her was smiling on the inside. 

“Get me out of this,” Mr Stark said, bringing her elevation back to reality. 

“S-sorry I’ll get the dissolvant.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Spare a kudos or comment maybe?


End file.
